Handbags and backpacks serve the common purpose of providing a means for carrying goods and articles. However, the fact that they have different configurations has implications regarding functionality and fashion.
Among the advantages of backpacks are that they allow the user to carry the bag on their back with the weight evenly distributed on the shoulders and they allow the user to have both hands free. This provides the most comfortable and practical means of carrying a bag when engaged in activities such as bicycling, sustained walking, tending to or carrying a child or any activity that would be hindered by a handbag swinging from a shoulder, worn across the front of the body or being hand held. However, the contents of traditional backpacks are too easily accessible to pickpockets and traditional backpacks are too casual to be appropriate in many situations.
Handbags have had an advantage over backpacks in that there has been greater flexibility in design which makes them appropriate in any situation and more compatible with any given fashion or look. However, a handbag, whether hand held, carried on one shoulder, or worn cross body can cause back and shoulder pain when carried for long periods. A handbag also interferes with the ability to enjoy many activities even of shorter duration because it requires that the user actively hold the bag or deal with gravity caused swinging if the wearer leans forward. While traditional backpacks usually have a small handle at the top so that the backpack may be carried by hand, it is a backpack by configuration and therefore cannot share the advantages of a handbag's design flexibility as described above.
Depending on the nature and duration of an outing, wearers may prefer one type of bag over the other for all or a portion of the outing. For example, a long walking tour would likely call for a backpack. If that day of touring involves entry into an establishment (such as a museum) which prohibits backpacks but allows handbags, or culminates in arrival at a destination demanding a fashion look more refined than a backpack, there is a need for a fashionable bag that can be easily converted between the backpack and handbag modes